• Fraud against the public sector soared last year, according to Public Finance. The annual KPMG Fraud Barometer found that cases across the economy hit a 23-year high in 2010, with those against the government increasing by almost 20% over the previous year

• A quarter of children have looked at pornography in the last year, according to LSE research used in a Panorama programme about the sexualisation of young children, reports the Telegraph.

• Eminient surgeon Sir Terence English has joined the right-to-die campaign, according to the Independent. Sir Terence, who performed Britain's first successful heart transplant in 1979, said he would be personally prepared to assist a patient to take their own life provided that he knew the patient was terminally ill, of sound mind and had not been "got at" by friends or relatives.

• A quarter of shops and businesses in Scotland are falsely claiming to have hearing loops, reports the BBC. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf sent mystery shoppers to 500 shops in Dundee, Glasgow, Paisley and Falkirk and discovered that some shops were displaying hearing loop signs but did not have a usable system.

On my radar ...

• This moving insight into the work of London's homelessness charities during the cold snap from Inside Housing's editor, Stuart Macdonald, who witnessed their life-saving work first-hand on a street rescue night shift.

• Indignation in this guest post on Bendy Girl's Benefit Scrounging Scum blog, or why watching the Sunday politics shows on TV isn't good for your health.

• Rivalry in the world of NHS HR, as recounted on Karen Wise's HR blog, which reveals that HR staff in acute settings regard themselves as superior to their PCT colleagues who will soon be coming back onto the jobs market, but Karen concludes:

"Personally, I think that working in a PCT means that you have to be more creative. For example, its a lot harder to engage a workforce that spends 70% of it's time off-site, in people's homes or in a weekly clinic in a healthcentre. But the through-put of the weird and wonderful employee relations cases is definitely greater in acute and mental health trusts."

• The "comptency curse", as explained in this guest post on the We Love Local Government blog:

"It is the competent managers [who] are more likely to bear the burden of the budget savings. In conversations such as been had in the past year, ie "how are we going to make the necessary budget cuts?", a competent service head will already have produced a series of costed options, with an accompanied service impact report and consultation plan.
The less able will have chosen to bury their head in the sand and their response would probably be to mutter something about 'being a statutory duty' and the service being 'already stretched'."

• This dreadful experience of GP services from the Patient Opinion website:

"My wife had a positive pregnancy test, so we went to our GP in south-east London). Without seeking our views, the doctor immediately phoned a friend at Queen Mary's hospital in Sidcup, talking to him about us in a foreign language. When I then said that we did not wish to go to Queen Mary's, as we regarded as unsafe, he literally threw something at me! He then refused to deal with us any more or answer any questions, telling us that we had to phone the midwife-run maternity line. Subsequently, Queen Mary's maternity service has (for the second year running) been closed for the winter as it is unsafe, meaning that we wouldn't have been able to use it even if we had wanted to!"

• My quote of the weekend from the Observer's Diary of a Public Servant:

"If GPs can't crunch the numbers properly on flu vaccines, how can they be trusted to manage £80bn of the NHS budget, as they would under reform plans?"

• An artistic approach to protesting against cuts. An event dubbed Dance against the deficit lies is planned to take place outside the Bank of England from 1pn on Friday, highlighting the contribution of culture to national life and "[creating] the most fabulous showcase of the arts this country has to offer". As the organisers explain on the Heard in London blog:

" ... we do not believe that all the cuts this government is making are in the best interests of its citizens. In particular this demonstration is celebrating the arts, which will be so crucially damaged by the cuts in education and funding. We are good at the arts."

• This interesting post on the Fighting Monsters social work blog, whick looks not only at how social care staff can harness technology, but also at the demarcation line between the personal and the professional.

Do you work in public sector HR?

The XpertHR benchmarking survey of public sector HR practitioners and employment professionals wants to hear from you about the employment implications of the coalition's public spending cuts. It will look back to what happened in 2010, and forward to the implications for 2011, covering topics including

• Cutting wage bills, use of outsourcing to reduce wage bills, use of shared services to reduce wage bills;

• Voluntary and compulsory redundancies;

• Closure of offices or sites;

• Relocation of staff or offices;

• Schedules and outcomes of cost-cutting measures.

The survey is running on the XpertHR benchmarking surveys website until 18 January.

In case you missed them ... SocietyGuardian weekend highlights

• What effect has the internet had on healthcare, asks Aleks Krotoski

• NHS hospitals are told to offer patients bingo sessions to beat boredom

• Social entrepreneurs: doing good business

All Sunday's SocietyGuardian news and comment

All Saturday's SocietyGuardian news and comment

Latest on the Guardian Professional Networks

• Sam Younger, the chief executive of the Charity Commission, is live online from 1pm today, as the organisation faces a strategic review.

• The Housing Network is also hosting a live online Q&A today (midday-3pm) on how to boost your career in the housing sector.

• Northern Ireland is joining other NHS bodies in buying vending machine-style equipment that allows pharmacists to dispense drugs remotely, reports the Healthcare Network.

Guardian and Observer Christmas Charity Appeal 2010

Guardian and Observer readers have helped to raise £311,000 for 10 projects working with disadvantaged young people in this year's Christmas Charity Appeal. The 10 charities will receive an equal share of the final total to invest in frontline projects aimed at transforming the lives of some of our most vulnerable youngsters. They will also receive a communications support package from Media Trust. The appeal has now closed, but you can read more about the projects, and find out how they have turned around young lives in the Christmas Charity Appeal area of our site.

Events

HR Summit, 18 January, London

Creating the workforce you need to meet the challenges ahead. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available.

Public Services Summit New models, new relationships, a new era. 10 & 11 February, St Albans.

Join leading thinkers, practitioners and policy makers for discussion and debate about the future of our public services. 15% early bird discount available.

Mobile and Wireless Healthcare Enabling access to care at the point of need. 16 February, Birmingham.

This conference is aimed at ICT and service delivery teams in the NHS to give them practical advice and guidance at a time where all we can be certain of is a reduction in public sector budgets. 2 for 1 delegate place offer available.

Public Sector Procurement 17 February, Manchester. Only £99 to attend.

A one-day conference for public sector buyers and suppliers, exploring new policy and innovation from across the north of England. Book two delegate places and get 10% off.